I went to the Essen Motorshow in Germany earlier this
week and there was a company that polished aluminum
wheels by some method that I think used stainless steel
balls to polish the surface. They added a clear coat after
this. BBS wheels have used this on some of their alloys
for a few years. It wasn't like chrome or mirror finish but
almost. I think I will send them a set of wheels to polish.
Thomas
Brian St. Jacques wrote:
> I did a rough cast manifold once, and I will never polish a rough casting
> again. I started out with a die grinder and sandpaper drums to remove the
> parting lines and start smoothing out the casting pits. For me what worked
> best for getting the surface smooth enough to start polishing was ALOT of
> hand sanding with progressively finer grits. I did do all the tight spots
> that I could with some finer grit tapered sandpaper drums on the die
> grinder.
>
> When it came to the buffing and polishing, because of the complex surfaces I
> could not use the wheel on the bench grinder effectively, so I used a 4"
> buffing wheel on the die grinder for the larger surfaces and an assortment
> of small felt bobs on a dremel tool and 1/8" die grinder for the tight
> areas. I would highly recommend the 1/8" die grinder over the dremel - about
> twice the RPMs.
>
> This took me MANY, MANY hours, but the results were beautiful. Unfortunately
> I don't have a website right now, but I put together a page showing the
> progression of the smoothing and polishing. If I get some web space again I
> will post the page and provide a link.
>
> As I mentioned, I doubt I will tackle a rough casting again. Sending it out
> to a professional polisher will save you lots of time and get nice results,
> but you will pay for it, especially on a rough piece. :)
>
> One last recommendation...the manifold I did had several unneeded screw
> bosses, vacuum ports, smog fittings, etc. I cut everything off that I didn't
> need, had the holes welded up, and smoothed them over. You wind up with a
> really clean presentation without a bunch of blocked off fittings.
>
> Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
> [mailto:owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of
> JOHNSOF@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 7:01 PM
> To: datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
> Subject: aluminum polishing
>
> I know this subject was covered at length some months back, but...
>
> The cast aluminum parts - thermostat outlet, valve cover, etc - are so full
> of "flaws" from the casting process that I can't seem to polish them very
> well. The stamped aluminum parts, like the Solex air filter cover, polish
> up
> very easily. Are the cast parts going to require sanding first? Starting
> with 80 or 160 grit, and then progressing to polishing compounds and finally
> rouge? Or what am I missing?
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Fred J.
> '69 SRL
> WI
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